Road fears over park homes bid on borough border

Plans for nearly 250 homes on West Norfolk’s border with Cambridgeshire could put even greater pressure on a notorious road junction in the area, opponents have claimed.

Developers are seeking permission for 229 park homes and a further 20 residential plots on a site described as being north of Sandy Lane, Wisbech.

Although most of the application site is in the Fenland district, a small part lies within West Norfolk.

Members of the borough council’s planning committee issued a holding objection to the plan when they met in Lynn on Monday.

They also deferred a final decision on the matter to their Fenland counterparts, after accepting officers’ recommendation that the application could jeopardise progress on a broader development plan for the area.

However, residents who contacted the authority ahead of the meeting raised concerns about the impact on both Sandy Lane and Broadend Road, as well as the A47’s junction with the two roads.

There have been repeated calls for improved safety measures at the junction following a number of serious incidents in the area in recent years.

And, in their objection to the plan, the Walsoken parish council said: “Access to the by-pass is inadequate for the additional traffic.”

But the applicants, East Anglian Park Home Estates Ltd, says the scheme is a “natural extension” of developed land in the area.

It says the homes would be built in phases over the next 10 years, with a maximum of 35 properties being sold each year.